The Group of 7 (G7) is a group consisting of the finance ministers and central bank governors of seven major advanced economies as reported by the International Monetary Fund: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States meeting to discuss primarily economic issues. The European Union is also represented within the G7. The G7 countries represent more than 64% of the net global wealth ($263 trillion), 46% of the global GDP evaluated at market exchange rates, and 32% of the global purchasing power parity GDP.
The next major G7 summit will be held in 2016 in Japan. Other recent G7 meetings include that of May 2013 in Aylesbury, United Kingdom with an emergency meeting in The Hague, Netherlands on March 24, 2014. Most recently, the 41st G7 summit was held at the Schloss Elmau hotel in Krün, Germany on June 7â€"8, 2015.
History
The G7's precursor was the 'Group of Six', founded ad hoc in 1975, consisting of finance ministers and central bank governors from France, West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, when Giscard d'Estaing invited them for an "informal gathering at the chateau of Rambouillet, near Paris [...] in a relaxed and private setting". The intent was "to discuss current world issues (dominated at the time by the oil crisis) in a frank and informal manner". Canada became the seventh member in 1976, after which the name 'Group 7' or G7 was used. During 1986â€"87 the G7 with its finance ministers and central bank governors superseded the G5 as the main policy coordination group, particularly following the Louvre Accord of February 1987, agreed by the G5 plus Canada and endorsed by the G7.
Following 1994's G7 summit in Naples, Russian officials held separate meetings with leaders of the G7 after the group's summits. This informal arrangement was dubbed the Political 8 (P8) â€" or, colloquially, the G7+1. At the invitation of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair and President of the United States Bill Clinton, Russian President Boris Yeltsin was invited first as a guest observer, later as a full participant. It was seen as a way to encourage Yeltsin's capitalist reforms. After the 1997 meeting Russia was formally invited to the next meeting and formally joined the group in 1998, resulting in a new group, the Group of Eight, or G8.
Function
The organization was originally founded to facilitate shared macroeconomic initiatives by its members in response to the collapse of the exchange rate 1971, during the time of the Nixon Shock, the 1970s energy crisis and the ensuing recession. Its goal was fine tuning of short term economic policies among participant countries to monitor developments in the world economy and assess economic policies.
Work
Since 1975, the group meets annually on summit site to discuss economic policies; since 1987, the G7 finance ministers have met at least semi-annually, up to 4 times a year at stand-alone meetings.
In 1996, the G7 launched an initiative for the 42 heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC).
In 1999, the G7 decided to get more directly involved in "managing the international monetary system" through the Financial Stability Forum, formed earlier in 1999 and the G-20, established following the summit, to "promote dialogue between major industrial and emerging market countries". In 1999 the G7 announced their plan to cancel 90% of bilateral, and multilateral debt for the HIPC, totaling $100 billion. In 2005 the G7 announced, debt reductions of "up to 100%" to be negotiated on a "case by case" basis.
In 2008 the G7 met twice in Washington, D.C. to discuss the global financial crisis of 2007-2010 and in February 2009 in Rome. The group of finance ministers pledged to take "all necessary steps" to stem the crisis.
On March 2, 2014, the G7 condemned the "Russian Federation's violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine." The G7 stated "that the International Monetary Fund(IMF) remains the institution best prepared to help Ukraine address its immediate economic challenges through policy advice and financing, conditioned on needed reforms", and that the G7 was "committed to mobilize rapid technical assistance to support Ukraine in addressing its macroeconomic, regulatory and anti-corruption challenges."
On March 24, 2014, the G7 convened an emergency meeting in response to the Russian Federation's annexation of Crimea at the Dutch Catshuis, located in The Hague because all G7 leaders were already present to attend the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit. This was the first G7 meeting neither taking place in a member nation nor having the host leader participating in the meeting.
On June 4, 2014 leaders at the G7 summit in Brussels, condemned Moscow for its "continuing violation" of Ukraine's sovereignty, in their joint statement and stated they were prepared to impose further sanctions on Russia. This meeting was the first since Russia was expelled from the group following its annexation of Crimea in March.
Table of meetings
The annual G7 leaders summit is attended by the heads of government. The member country holding the G7 presidency is responsible for organizing and hosting the year's summit.
The serial annual summits can be parsed chronologically in arguably distinct ways, including as the sequence of host countries for the summits has recurred over time, series, etc.
Leaders
Heads of Government and EU representatives, as of 2015
Member country data
The G7 is composed of the wealthiest developed countries by national net wealth (See National wealth). The People's Republic of China, according to its data, would be 3rd (8.1% of the world net wealth) in the world, but is excluded because the G7 countries doesn't consider China a developed country. As of 2014 Credit Suisse estimates, that the G7 (without the European Union) represents above 64% of the global net wealth. Including the EU the G7 represents over 70% of the global net wealth.
Criticism
In 2015, despite Germany's immense efforts to prevent it and despite the remote location of the summit, the luxury hotel Schloss Elmau at the foot of the Wetterstein mountains at an altitude of 1008 m above sea level, about 300 of the 7500 peaceful protesters led by the group 'Stop-G7' managed to reach the 3 m high and 7 km long security fence surrounding the summit location. The protesters questioned the legitimation of the G7 to make decisions that could affect the whole world. Authorities had banned demonstrations in the closer area of the summit location and 20000 policemen were on duty in Southern Bavaria to keep activists and protesters from interfering with the summit.
See also
- G6 (EU)
- G8
- G20
- Group of Thirty
- BRICS
References
External links
- G7/8 Information Centre - University of Toronto